Encoding/Decoding

Stuart Hall

By: Maria Abigail A. Jamias

Mass communication used to have a linear model

– sender/message/receiver – but it has been challenged through time. One of those who did was Stuart Hall with his Encoding/Decoding Model of Communication. The model presented a four-stage model of communication which will help us understand that communication is not a linear circuit, but a complex structure of relations of encoded and decoded messages.

Abstract

Linear Model of Communication

Sender Message Receiver

Encoding/Decoding

Model

Source: http://melaniemryan.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/hall.jpg

Production Circulation Distribution/Consumption Reproduction Each moment is articulated through

discourse.

Encoding/Decoding Model

Each moment has a product. The products are meanings and

messages. These products operate within the

rules of language.

Television Discourse

Production – message construction The construction of the message is

framed by meanings and ideas. Source of message: audience

Circulation and reception But production and reception are not identical.

No Meaning = No Consumption If meaning is not articulated, there is no effect.

In the communicative process,

distortions may arise. Meaning structure 1 is not

equivalent to meaning structure 2 To sum it all up, televisual

discourse is a complex one.

Production of “what we can know

and say” Discourse is an articulation.

Codes operate in discourse. In some visual signs, certain codes

appear to be so natural.

Discourse

This is because of convention. Umberto Eco explains that

iconic signs “look like objects in the real world because they reproduce the conditions (that is, the codes) of perception in the viewer”.

Denotation Connotation They are not truly distinct. They operate as levels.

Linguistic Theory

Most signs will combine denotation

and connotation. Meanings are not fixed in natural

perceptions. What is fixed are ideological

values.

connotative levels of signifiers are

fragments of ideology In televisual sign: - denotative level is fixed - connotative level is open to transformations - exploitation of polysemic values

Dominant cultural order Dominant or preferred meanings Preferred readings Performative rules - enforce or pre-fer one semantic domain over others Neglect of interpretative work by formal

semiology

Reading is a subjective capacity Controversy on getting messages

across

Dominant-hegemonic position - viewer is operating inside the dominant code - positions are produced by the professional code - professional code operates within the hegemony of the dominant code

Decoding Televisual Discourse

Negotiated Code or position - mixture of adaptive and oppositional elements - acknowledges hegemonic definitions but operates within its own rules

Oppositional Code - understanding literal and connotative inflection but decoding the message in a “globally contrary way”

Althusserianism and Neo-

Gramscian Cultural Studies

Louis AlthusserAntonio Gramsci

Louis Althusser explained the

concept of ideology – that it is not merely an expression, but also a practice. It has an economic base and is in fact a process of transformation. More importantly, ideology is not something limited to the ruling class because it is a two-way street. It affects both the ruling class and the subordinate class. From Althusser, we also understand the concept of the problematic and the practice of symptomatic reading.

Abstract

Neo-Gramscian cultural studies,

on the other hand, explains how hegemony works. More importantly, ‘articulation’ is a key concept in neo-Gramscian cultural studies and this concept was further explained by Stuart Hall.

Abstract

Theorized concept of ideology Social formation - economic, political and ideological Dominant practice depends on

economic production

Althusserianism

“Through ideology, men and

women live their relations to the real conditions of existence.”

A system of representations Process of transformation It is unconscious.

“Theoretical (and ideological)

structure which both frames and produces the repertoire of crisscrossing and competing discourses out of which a text or practice is materially organized.”

Problematic

What it excludes, what it includes What is not said/what is not

done/what is said/what is done Encourages texts to question itself. “…divulges the undivulged.”

The problematic is deconstructed

through sympotamatic reading Absence of repressed words Multiplicity of meanings Production of new knowledge figuration

Ideology represents imaginary

relationships. It is a lived, material practice. It is done through Ideological State

apparatuses. Ideology is the creation of subjects. Ex. advertising

Althusserianism

Concept of hegemony “…a political concept developed

to explain (given the exploitative and oppressive nature of capitalism) the absence of socialist revolution in the Western capitalist democracies.”

Neo-Gramscian Cultural Studies

A condition in process Not only rules, but leads There is a high degree of

consensus. It is a result of negotiation.

Organized by organic intellectuals They are class organizers.

Hegemony in popular culture. Ex. Bob Marley

Articulation is a key term. Stuart Hall – articulation is to

express and to join together Meaning is the result of an act of

articulation.

Meaning is determined by

discursive location and social context.

Meaning is a social production.

But people are not ‘cultural dupes’.

An example of which is popular culture.

Case Studies

Jenny Kitzinger

From this reading, the researchers

studied the way audiences reacted to media’s coverage on AIDS and sexual abuse. The study showed that the audience have different readings and interpretations of media texts because of their personal experiences and socio-political standpoints. This is not undermine, though, the potential of media to influence.

Abstract

Recall References to Mass Media Fluency in generic conventions of

news Media as channel of basic information Media as conveyers of false

information

Common Findings

52 focus group discussions

Visual representations were important.

‘the face of AIDS’ Africa as cradle of HIV infection AIDS associated with ‘perversity’

Audience understandings

of AIDS

Interviews with journalists and sources Examination of media content and

production process

Danger from strangers (child abduction) Entwined with series of high-profile

social work scandals Social workers looking big and bad

Audience understandings of sexual abuse

Not all perceptions are because of

media coverage. structured gossip Media messages interact with the

daily lives of people

Social and Cultural Context of Audience Understandings

Identifying diversity and resistance Coverage are not homogenous Consumption of different messages People’s social, political and personal

positions and identifications People can also challenge media

representations

Audience Diversity and Resistance

There are limits to skepticism, logic and

political consciousness. There are also limits to personal

experiences. Some people can take in information

while rejecting the source. Personal experiences may be too

personal.

Limits

Media messages can take

precedence over what people know from elsewhere.

‘media-free zone’ One’s understanding of the world

is a process.

Media has the potential to influence. Media representation matters. Cultural debate must include

production, content and reception of such messages.

Ability to deconstruct messages is not the same as rejecting the message.

Conclusion

Audiences may share the same

meaning but react differently. ‘Deviant readings’ may also be

influenced by media. Active audience is not immune

from influence.

Hall, S. in Durham and Kellner, Eds. (2001). Media

and Cultural Studies: Keyworks. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.

Storey, J. (1993). An Introduction to Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, 2nd ed. London: Prentice Hall. 115-131

Kitzinger, J. “A Sociology of Media Power: Key Issues in Audience Reception Research” in Thornham, S., Bassett, C., and Marris, P. Eds. (2009), Media Studies: A Reader, 3rd ed. New York: New York University Press.

Sources

Hall, J. (1978). Gender Effects in Decoding

Nonverbal Cues. Retrieved fromhttp://www.communicationcache.com/upload

/1/0/8/8/10887248/gender_effects_in_decodig_nonverbal_cues.pdf.

Rotter, G.S. & Rotter, N.G. (1988). Sex Differences in the Encoding and Decoding of Negative Facial Emotions. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00986931.

Suggested Readings

Reception of Female High School

Students on News Reports about Rape Victims

Reception Analysis of the Youth on the primetime soap opera Got to Believe

Perception of Social Reality of Children who are heavy users of technology

Research Topics